Demonstrators put in jail

Demonstrators put in jail

DILI, East Timor: The district court sentenced two East Timorese yesterday to a total of 49 months in prison for staging an anti-government demonstration in January.

The convicts, 22-year-old Alfedro and 23-year-old Jose Hendriques, got 24 months and 25 months respectively. They are considering an appeal, Antara reported.

The judge said that the sentences meted out to the defendants are more lenient than they deserve. But because they have never been jailed before, he added, they were still young enough to repent.

The verdict stated that the demonstration, which took place at the University of East Timor, had put the Indonesian government under international scrutiny and that the protesters sowed hatred toward the government.

At the separate trials of two more students being tried for the same offense, the defendants insisted that the government return the bodies of those killed on Nov. 12, 1991, when about 50 people were killed in a bloody demonstration. (pan)